In 1985, California Rules of Court, rule 76.5 (now rule 8.300) was promulgated. Rule 8.300 authorizes an appellate court to contract with an administrator for the purpose of assigning and evaluating appointed counsel in indigent appeals. Pursuant to rule 8.300, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) enters yearly contracts with the administrators chosen to work with the various appellate courts.

The appointed counsel program was established in the Sixth District shortly after the court’s inception in November, 1984. The first administrator was the Santa Clara County Conflicts Administration Program, directed by Phillip Pennypacker. The Appellate Division of Conflicts Administration Program began in April, 1985, staffed by attorneys Michael Kresser, Deanna Lamb, and Manuel Baglanis. In March, 1986, Dallas Sacher joined the staff.

Effective July 1, 1988, a new nonprofit corporation, the Sixth District Appellate Program (SDAP) with Michael Kresser as executive director, took over the contract for the Sixth District. The staff of Conflicts Appellate Division became employees of SDAP.

SDAP is governed by a seven person Board of Directors whose members are selected in consultation with the four county bar associations in the Sixth District: Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. From 1988 to 1998, appellate specialist Gerald Z. Marer of Palo Alto was the Chair of the Board. Michele Vague of Santa Cruz, an original member of the Board, assumed the Chair following Mr. Marer’s retirement, and served as Chair until May 2007. Russell Hanlon, a civil appellate specialist in San Jose, was then elected Chair. Richard Wasserstrom, a retired law professor and attorney from Santa Cruz is Chief Financial Officer. Rickey Green, an attorney who concentrates in corporate and tax law, is Secretary. Other board members are Frank Dice, a veteran criminal defense trial attorney from Salinas, Professor Ed Steinman of Santa Clara Law School, and Wendy Kim of Santa Clara, also a veteran criminal defense trial attorney. Ms. Vague continues to serve on the Board after her resignation as Chair. Professor Gerald Uelmen of the Santa Clara School of Law was Chief Financial Officer from 1988 to 2006 when he resigned upon becoming Executive Director of the California Commission of the Fair Adminstration of Justice.

SDAP’s attitude toward the representation of indigents is that expressed in Von Moltke v. Gillies (1948) 332 U.S. 708:

“Undivided allegiance and faithful, devoted service to a client are prized traditions of the American lawyer. It is this kind of service for which the Sixth Amendment makes provision. And nowhere is this service deemed more honorable than in case of appointment to represent an accused too poor to hire a lawyer, even though the accused may be a member of an unpopular or hated group, or may be charged with an offense which is peculiarly abhorrent.” (Id., at pp. 725-726, fn. omitted.)

MICHAEL KRESSER has been Executive Director of SDAP since its inception in 1988. After graduation from Stanford Law School, Michael joined the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office in 1976. He twice headed the office's Research Division between three stints on the felony trial calendar. From 1980-1982, he took a leave to become a judicial attorney at the California Supreme Court. Michael became Chief Appellate Attorney of the Conflicts Administration Program in 1985. He served on the Appellate Indigent Defense Oversight Advisory Committee from 1994 to 2002. He was prevailing counsel in In re George T. (2004) 33 Cal.4th 620 in which the California Supreme Court reversed a Juvenile Court finding of a criminal threat based on a high school student's poem, and in People v. Trujillo (2006) 40 Cal.4th 165, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a defendant's admission in a probation report could not be used to establish that a prior conviction constituted a "strike."

DALLAS SACHER is SDAP’s Assistant Director. He graduated from Santa Clara Law School in 1981. Dallas worked as a staff attorney for Presiding Justice George Brown of the Fifth District Court of Appeal from 1982 to 1983. After a stint at an LA firm, Dallas moved north and began a private appellate practice. He joined SDAP’s predecessor, the Conflicts Administration Program as a staff attorney in 1986. Dallas has been an editor of Forecite since its inception in 1990. His most recent litigation success was obtaining an OSC by order of the California Supreme Court, and then representing his client at the subsequent evidentiary hearing in superior court, where he got one of two convictions set aside due to IAC. His client was then resentenced from 25 years to life to six years and released. (In re Magnan, S133572.)

LORI QUICK graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1990. Between 1990 and 1992, she was a Deputy Public Defender in Marin County. In 1992, Lori joined the Public Defender’s Office in Santa Cruz. Lori became a SDAP staff attorney in 1996. Lori recently obtained a grant of habeas corpus from the Ninth Circuit for a Three Strikes client due to instructional error concerning use of domestic violence propensity evidence (Acosta v. Lewis, 04-17017) and obtained a full reversal of multiple sex offense convictions and resulting 162 year to life sentence in People v. Ojeda, H029199.

VICKI FIRSTMAN has been a SDAP staff attorney since 1996. Vicki is a graduate of Santa Clara Law School. She began her legal career with the Monterey County Public Defender where she represented clients until 1982. Vicki was a judicial attorney with the Sixth District Court of Appeal from its inception in 1984 until 1995. She is involved with both criminal and dependency cases in her staff work, and has assisted in major habeas litigation in dependency and with regard to advisement of immigration consequences both in the appellate and trial courts.

WILLIAM M. ROBINSON is a 1980 graduate of UC Davis Law School. Bill has been a criminal defense lawyer ever since. He has won numerous appellate cases including People v. Mendoza (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1114, People v. Gangemi (1993) 13 Cal.App.4th 1790, People v. Garcia (1987) 195 Cal.App.3d 191 and People v. Fuller (1982) 136 Cal.App.3d 403. Bill joined the SDAP staff in 1998 and was SDAP’s faculty member at the inaugural Appellate Advocacy College in 2000. His most recent success was obtaining a full reversal of multiple convictions, including attempted murder with gun use and gang enhancements, carrying a 40 year to life sentence in People v. Blancarte, H026676.

PAUL COUENHOVEN graduated from Wayne State University Law School in 1983. He clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn in Detroit for two years. He came to California and worked for Patrick Hallinan before joining the Alameda County Public Defender’s office in 1987. In 1989, he began his practice as a panel attorney, eventually joining all five project panels and doing capital appellate defense. He joined the SDAP staff in 1997. Paul's recent victories include People v. Hofsheier (2006) 37 Cal.4th 1185 [equal protection violation to make sex offender registration mandatory for unlawful oral copulation but optional for unlawful sexual intercourse].

JONATHAN GROSSMAN is a 1991 graduate of Hastings College of Law. Jonathan worked as a Deputy Public Defender in San Joaquin County from 1991 to 1999 where he handled numerous law and motion and appellate matters in both criminal and child dependency cases. Jonathan joined SDAP in 1999. Among his notable victories is Juan H. v. Allen (9th Cir. 2005) 408 F.3d 1262 in which he obtained federal habeas relief to reverse his client's murder and attempted murder convictions due to insufficient evidence.